Homemade Dog Bed with Pockets

The homemade dog bed with pockets is based on our eco-friendly Free Dog Bed which is made out of old couch cushions.

You should be able to scrounge all the materials needed for one or two pockets from items on hand.

Note that all of the sewing can be done by hand if you prefer.

Please note: If there's a chance that your dog will grab things out of the pockets and chew on them, it may be best to forget about this idea! An alternative would be to add a flap with a snap over each pocket or, if you're really skilled, put in a flap with a zipper.

Adding Pockets to the Free Dog Bed

MATERIALS AND TOOLS FOR ONE POCKET

An empty plastic gallon milk or water jug

A fabric strip at least 6 x 16 inches (150 x 405mm) either leftover from Cushion #2 or another heavy fabric that doesn't clash with the main cushion color/pattern

Sewing machine and/or

Sewing needle with heavy duty thread

Straight pins

Cloth scissors

PREPARATION

Mark the jug as show in the picture.

Cut with scissors around the dark lines and along the dashed line in the middle.

You should now have two right-angled strips of plastic about the same size.

Wash and dry the strips if necessary.

Put the strips on top of one another.

Take your fabric piece and fold it over the plastic strips to cover them completely and leave an extra 1.5 inches (40 mm) of material extending beyond them along the bottom edge.

Now fold the raw edges of this extra material to the inside and pin them in place.

SEWING

Sew the above pinned edges together.

Next push the plastic strips snugly up against the top fold and sew a line underneath them to hold the plastic in place, making sure to smooth out the already part evenly.

The bottom part of the fabric should extend beyond the plastic by about an inch (25mm) as shown in the photo below.

Pin your pocket to the dog bed the way you want it.

Sew it in place by hand.

Add a second one to the other corner of your homemade dog bed with pockets if you'd like.

Then load up those pockets with your dog's things.

Just think, no more hunting for that grooming equipment or the leash if you keep everything in the pockets!